The application of quantum dots for lighting is known in the art. US2008315177, for instance, describes devices and methods for emitting substantially white light using a photonic crystals. The photonic crystal has a lattice of air holes and is made from a substrate containing quantum dots. The substrate is etched with three defects that are optically coupled together so that each emits only certain frequencies of light. In combination, the defects can produce substantially white light. The parameters of the photonic crystal are dimensioned so as to cause the coupling between the defects to produce substantially white light.
US2007/025673 describes light emission using quantum dot emitters in a photonic crystal. This documents describes devices and methods of manufacturing for emitting substantially white light using a photonic crystal. The photonic crystal has a lattice of air holes and is made from a substrate containing quantum dots. The substrate is etched with three defects that are optically coupled together so that each emits only certain frequencies of light. In combination, the defects can produce substantially white light. The parameters of the photonic crystal are dimensioned so as to cause the coupling between the defects to produce substantially white light.
US2010/021104 describes an optical waveguide system. It further describes that it is made possible to provide an optical waveguide system that has a coupling mechanism capable of selecting a wavelength and has the highest possible conversion efficiency, and that is capable of providing directivity in the light propagation direction. An optical waveguide system includes a three-dimensional photonic crystalline structure including crystal pillars and having a hollow structure inside thereof, an optical waveguide in which a plurality of metal nanoparticles are dispersed in a dielectric material, the optical waveguide having an end portion inserted between the crystal pillars of the three-dimensional photonic crystalline structure, and containing semiconductor quantum dots that are located adjacent to the metal nanoparticles and emit near-field light when receiving excitation light, the metal nanoparticles exciting surface plasmon when receiving the near-field light; and an excitation light source that emits the excitation light for exciting the semiconductor quantum dots.
Ibrahim Murat Soganci et al. (IEEE, Lasers and Electro-Optics Society, 2007, p. 533-534) describes a localized plasmon-engineered spontaneous emission of CdSe/ZnS nanocrystals closely-packed in the proximity of Ag nano islands.
P. P. Pompa et al. (Nature Nanotechnology, vol. 1, no. 2, November 2006, p. 126-130) describes a metal-enhanced fluorescence of colloidal nanocrystals with nanoscale control.
Jung-Hoon Song et al. (Nano Letters, vol. 5, no. 8, August 2005, p. 1557-1561) describes a large enhancement of fluorescence efficiency from CdSe/ZnS Quantum dots induced by resonant coupling to spatially controlled surface plasmons.
US2005/285128 describes a surface plasmon light emitter structure and method of manufacture. This document describes a method (and resulting structures) for manufacturing light emitting semiconductor devices. The method includes providing a substrate comprising a surface region and forming a metal layer overlying the surface region of the substrate. In a specific embodiment, the metal layer and the surface region are characterized by a spatial spacing between the metal layer and the substrate to cause a coupling between electron-hole pairs generated in the substrate and a surface plasmon mode at an interface region between the metal layer and the surface region. Additionally, the interface region has a textured characteristic between the surface region and the metal layer. The textured characteristics causes emission of electromagnetic radiation through the surface plasmon mode or like mechanism according to a specific embodiment.
US2010/0051870 describes a semiconductor nanocrystals and compositions and devices including same. This document further describes a semiconductor nanocrystal capable of emitting light with an improved photoluminescence quantum efficiency. US2010/0051870 further relates to compositions and devices including semiconductor nanocrystals capable of emitting light with an improved photoluminescence quantum efficiency. A semiconductor nanocrystal wherein the semiconductor nanocrystal is capable of emitting light with a photoluminescence quantum efficiency greater than about 50% upon excitation and including a maximum peak emission with a FWHM less than 20 nm is disclosed. US2010/0051870 also describes are a device, a population of semiconductor nanocrystals, and a composition including a semiconductor nanocrystal wherein the semiconductor nanocrystal is capable of emitting light with a photoluminescence quantum efficiency greater than about 50% upon excitation and including a maximum peak emission with a FWHM less than 20 nm. A semiconductor nanocrystal that is capable of emitting light upon excitation with a photoluminescence quantum efficiency greater than about 90%.